Chapter 108
Chapter 108
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Heaven and Hell
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Near the fountain, Allen sat slumped, his face devoid of spirit.
The glutton that had been tormenting him for a while licked Allen’s face, then vanished with the chilling remark, ‘A shame. It's been a while since I've eaten an elf.’
If the sycophantic spider clinging to the glutton’s side hadn't chattered that the Lord was about to arrive, the fat dragon likely wouldn't have left. It would have insisted on tasting him.
‘What am I even doing here…?’
Now that the noisy creatures tormenting him were gone, the reality of his situation dawned on Allen anew. Crushed by a wave of negative emotions, he leaned his head against the fountain.
He didn't know why he was here after being devoured by Agwi, but he was worried about Lina.
Since he had ended up in this state after a mental assault, he was sick with worry over what that devil, Lee Si-woo, might have done to that gentle girl.
"Are you worried about her?"
Startled by the familiar voice that came from beside him without warning, Allen whipped his head around.
His pupils shook when he saw Lee Si-woo perched on the edge of the fountain, having appeared without a sound.
‘Just as I thought…! This is all your doing, Lee Si-woo!’
But something was strange.
Normally, a string of curses should have reflexively shot from his mouth at the sight of Si-woo, but the profanities were caught uncomfortably in his throat, refusing to come out.
‘Why do my shoulders suddenly feel… heavy?’
Realizing a strange pressure was weighing down his shoulders, Allen swallowed dryly.
It was heavy.
The air that drifted around Lee Si-woo.
His voice, his gaze, every single trivial movement.
Under a pressure so intense it felt like his veins were drying up, Allen managed to ask a question.
“…What do you want from me?”
“I want you to serve me with all your heart and soul.”
“I am Allen. A 5th-Circle beginner, and the youngest elder of the Senior Magic Tower.”
At Allen’s pride-filled declaration, the corner of Si-woo’s mouth twisted.
“I am a Flesh Divine Seed, Allen.”
In that moment, Allen was at a loss for words.
It felt as if all the achievements he had built over his lifetime were crumbling like a sandcastle before Si-woo’s casual declaration.
And he realized.
No matter how much he struggled, thrashed, strived, and grew, it was all meaningless before one who was born to be a king.
“Right, you’re… a Flesh Divine Seed. That’s right. Someone like me is nothing before you. No, maybe I’m like an insect….”
Just as he himself had always thought of humans, Allen swallowed the rest of his thought and continued.
“But I have my pride. Even if I lost to you, to live the rest of my life as your servant? Heh, forget it. That won’t happen even if I die and come back.”
Si-woo spoke with a strange smile.
“Even if I were to fix your sister’s legs?”
At the mention of Lina’s legs, Allen’s eyes shot open as he glared at Si-woo.
“What? What does that….”
“Allen. This is my world. Thanks to that, I can do quite a lot of things here. For instance….”
*Clap.*
The moment Si-woo clapped his hands, Lina appeared next to him in a wheelchair.
Lina, who had also become a child like Allen, beamed the moment she saw him.
“Brother! You’re alive!”
Allen looked at Lina with a complex mix of joy and confusion.
“Lina….”
*Clap.*
No sooner had Si-woo clapped his hands than Lina’s wheelchair vanished.
Like a father seeing his child fall off a sofa, Allen shot forward to support her.
But there was no need.
Lina was standing firmly on the ground with her own two legs.
“Ah….”
Like a bird that couldn't fly taking to the skies again. Or a horse that couldn't run galloping once more.
Standing on the ground by her own will and with her own two legs for the first time in a long time, Lina dazedly caressed her thighs.
Allen approached Lina, who was too stunned by the sudden miracle to even feel joy.
Lina looked at Allen with tear-filled eyes and spoke in a trembling voice.
“Brother, I’m standing. On my own two legs….”
But unfortunately for them, the master of this world was neither kind nor merciful.
*Clap.*
The miracle vanished faster than a cool summer breeze.
As Lina’s legs gave out, she staggered and was about to fall. Allen barely caught her, unable to control the emotions boiling inside him as he screamed.
“Lee Si-woo—!”
Si-woo said in a flat voice.
“Remember this. This is not a miracle, but my favor. And I am not generous enough to bestow favors without a price.”
The siblings clung to each other, looking at Si-woo with eyes filled with a mixture of regret, anger, and fear.
Si-woo looked down at them as they trembled like frail young birds and said.
“Allen. Depending on your choice, this place can become a hell….”
As Si-woo’s index finger traced a gentle path through the air, as if wading through water, Allen’s neck twisted at a grotesque angle.
Seeing Allen collapse like a rotten bale of straw, Lina let out a piercing scream, but the square was utterly silent, as if muted.
As if someone didn't want her screams to be heard.
“Or a heaven.”
Presently, Allen’s neck snapped back into place, and he was revived. Lina’s silent scream also stopped.
And that wasn't all. As if a switch had been flipped, Lina could stand on her own two legs again.
At his single word, her brother had been resurrected and her legs had been fixed, but there was no trace of joy on Lina’s face.
Only a deeper fear and awe had taken its place.
Because she knew this was not a miracle, but a cruel game.
Si-woo asked Allen.
“Allen. I will ask one last time. Do you want this place to be a heaven? Or….”
Si-woo didn’t need to finish his sentence.
Because Allen had knelt at his feet, bowing his head.
Si-woo gazed down with impassive eyes at Allen, who pressed his forehead to the ground, shedding tears thick with fear and humiliation.
He could see it.
Incomplete submission and imperfect obedience.
But it didn't matter.
Everything about him was already his.
Yes, from head to toe.
* * *
One by one, the Cells began to gather before a colossal gate that looked like a castle gate without walls, floating alone in the air.
Tarantula Anetium, Centipede Ogong, Elf Will, Ixion, and even Allen and Lina.
They were all the Cells scheduled for the expedition, as per Lee Si-woo’s command.
The Butler, standing beside Si-woo, spoke.
“I expected you to crush him like you did Harman, but you went about it in a slightly more roundabout way.”
In truth, if Si-woo had simply overwhelmed him with the dignity of a god, as he had with Harman and Ixion, recruiting Allen would have been much easier.
But this time, Si-woo chose persuasion, not domination.
Of course, it was coercive enough to be more of a threat than persuasion.
“I didn't want Allen to submit to me completely.”
“Perhaps… you were concerned he would become passive, like Harman?”
Si-woo nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. I don’t know if it’s a side effect of my method of imitating a god’s dignity, but Harman’s personality changed a bit.”
In terms of results, Si-woo’s forced domination was akin to neutering an animal.
It inflicted a powerful shock to the soul, castrating all negative feelings toward Si-woo and making the subject docile.
That was why he couldn't use this method on Allen.
If the personality of the man who was meant to be an actor on his stage were to change, it could disrupt his plans.
“Butler. Did you properly brief Allen on the plan?”
“Yes. As expected of a mage praised as a genius, he was a quick study.”
“Hmm, he’d better do a good job so we don’t have any headaches.”
The Butler shifted his gaze toward Lina, who was standing affectionately with Allen, and continued.
“You need not worry. Allen will do well, if only for his sister’s sake. Ah, and I heard you will be commanding Ixion directly… will that be alright? It could lead to complications if you arouse suspicion by mistake.”
With the Wilderness Magic Tower watching their every move, if Si-woo handled Ixion poorly, he could become a target.
But a war was going to break out anyway.
Si-woo wasn't such a coward as to be deterred by the risk.
“It’s fine. Ixion is worth that much of a burden.”
“Understood. Then I shall open the Gate of Expedition.”
As soon as the Butler finished speaking, the colossal gate floating in the air began to open.
A white light spilling from the gap in the gate swallowed the Cells. Si-woo took a light, deep breath.
He hadn't shown it, but he had been under immense stress.
The knowledge that an irresistible enemy named Kenyon was targeting him had been tightening a noose around his neck with every passing moment.
But now that he had the Gate of Expedition in his hands, he was finally confident that he could overcome this crisis.
‘But… is Kenyon really the only problem? Or….’
Si-woo lightly clicked his tongue, forcing the ominous thoughts away.
For now, he wanted to focus solely on Kenyon.
* * *
The Tower Lord’s office on the top floor of the Senior Magic Tower.
There, Kenyon was having a private meeting with a woman wearing a black mask adorned with a golden spider.
Not hiding his wariness toward her, Kenyon asked.
“Why shouldn’t I make a move?”
The owner of the golden spider mask, the Spider Matriarch, said.
“Because then I will make a move.”
“And why should I be afraid of you?”
The Spider Matriarch let out an arrogant laugh, like a tiger facing a defiant pup, and spoke.
“Well, if you don’t know the reason, perhaps you’re not qualified to sit in that seat?”
“Being played for a fool by you also disqualifies me from this seat.”
The Spider Matriarch shrugged and perched on Kenyon’s office desk.
As she crossed her legs, her elegant lines, which even her jeans couldn't hide, dangled before Kenyon’s eyes.
“Look, Kenyon. Let’s not make things complicated. I have no ill will toward the Senior Magic Tower. No, that's not right. To be precise, I have no business with a pathetic group of bugs crawling around in this backwater.”
“You’d do well to watch your mouth. No matter if you came from the Central Continent….”
*Crack.*
A spider leg shot out from the Spider Matriarch’s back, its claw grazing Kenyon’s cheek.
Kenyon’s eyes widened, and he didn't even think to wipe away the red blood trickling down his cheek.
‘I didn’t feel any mana… which means she’s not a mage. This woman. She’s a monster species. And one with unbelievable skill….’
He had subconsciously prepared a mana shield, yet it was pierced so helplessly?
Even if it wasn't deployed at full power, it was a result he couldn't ignore.
Realizing that this uninvited guest from Black Night, who called herself the Spider Matriarch, was a formidable opponent he couldn't guarantee victory against, Kenyon raised his mana to its absolute peak.
The Spider Matriarch looked at Kenyon, who was ready for a fight at a moment’s notice, as if he were cute, and said in a sultry voice.
“Kenyon, don’t do anything rash. I’m not touching you, not because you’re a threat, but because I don’t want to alert my real targets. What I’m after are things far more disgusting than you. Yes, those damn cockroaches that keep popping up no matter how many you kill.”
The Spider Matriarch retracted the spider leg that had pierced Kenyon’s mana shield and continued.
“So, just stay put. It’s not a difficult thing to do, is it? Or is the Senior Magic Tower so pathetic that it can’t even hold its own against the Wilderness Magic Tower without you? Hmm, that would be disappointing.”
“If it were just the Wilderness Magic Tower, we could more than hold our own. But it’s a different story if the Old Tree Magic Tower also makes a move.”
“That’s true, isn’t it? Well, you guys still have some clout in this backwater, don’t you? So even if you can’t win the war, you should be able to hold out for a while, right? So do your best. We’ll just take care of our business and slip away.”
“…Why would a powerhouse like you listen to the likes of the Wilderness Magic Tower’s Lord? If you sided with us, we could offer you much better terms….”
“Sorry, but we have our own rules over here. The Wilderness Magic Tower did us a commendable service. If we just ignored them, who would wag their tails for us in the future? Right? Ah, I’m busy, so I’ll be going now. And just a word of advice… I sincerely hope you don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
With those final words, the Spider Matriarch left the office.
Left alone in the office to swallow his anger, Kenyon slammed his fist on the desk.
He was furious with his reality, where he had to be helplessly swayed by some unknown group.
‘If only I had the Forbidden Art, I wouldn’t have suffered such humiliation from a woman like that… I must get my hands on that Lee Si-woo. I must extract the Forbidden Art from him….’
Just then, the telephone on Kenyon’s desk rang.
Kenyon picked up the office phone and said in a gruff voice.
“I told you not to contact me unless it was important. I’m busy.”
“My apologies, Tower Lord. I had to inform you that Elder Allen, who was thought to have been murdered, has returned alive.”
At the unexpected good news, Kenyon shot up from his seat.
“What? Allen is back alive? Is that true?!”
Kenyon clenched his fists.
This changed everything.
If Allen, the youngest elder and a possessor of genius-level combat sense, was alive, then they had a fighting chance even if the Wilderness and Old Tree Magic Towers formed an alliance.
Of course, they wouldn't win, merely hold out, but in the current situation, how could he ask for more?
“Yes. However… the one who rescued Elder Allen is a very unexpected person….”
“An unexpected person? Who could it be?”
“Lee Si-woo. It’s Lee Si-woo.”
Was it because of that name, clinging unpleasantly to the good news?
Kenyon unconsciously clenched his fists tighter.